Day 30: Worthington to Mankato,
Minnesota
July 20, 2004
Miles: 102
The big issue today was thunderstorms; they were predicting a 60
percent chance of rain and the Weather Channel showed a big red severe
thunderstorm alert band running from Minneapolis south towards our
route. Luckily, the most we got was a few sprinkles. That's
not to say that we didn't get soaked, though, as it was very
humid. With the slight breezes and the breeze we made by riding,
it helped cool us while we were moving.
The ride was uneventful. Andrew was planning on riding ahead of
Judith again, so we decided to ride together. We joined a
paceline that kept picking up people all the way to the first SAG at 30
miles, averaging about 20 mph. After that, Andrew and I rode
together. For the 102 miles, my average was 18.5 mph, as fast as
I've ever ridden a century.
Because we were in that paceline for the first 30 miles and then trying
to keep moving to beat the possible rains, I only took a few
pictures. The scenery was about the same, more corn:
Shortly before reaching Mankato, we passed by Lake Crystal:
Andrew reached a milestone
today--18,000 miles on his bike since he started riding in 2001.
Here he strikes a (by his admission) appropriately pompous pose to
celebrate. I agreed to take his picture if he eliminated the
commemorative speech.
Paul B. hit something while in the paceline about 3 miles before the
first SAG. He tore a big hole in his tire and creased his rim but
was otherwise OK. Staff fixed him up with a new wheel and he's
now shopping for a permanent replacement.
If you're counting, we now have three Pauls. At the second SAG,
Susan told Paul W. that we were to be known as Tall Paul (me), New
Paul (Bippen, because he joined us in Casper) and Old Paul
(West). That didn't set well with Old Paul--at route rap he
announced that he would henceforth be known as "Senior" Paul.
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